Going to test 'longevity medicine'

Drugs that can help people live to adulthood can be tested in the next three years.

Artwork: squidoo.com.

Telegraph said scientists have discovered three genes that have the potential to prolong life in Jews whose lifespans are over 100. Two of those genes boost the production of good cholesterol in the body. , thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The third gene helps the body prevent diabetes.

Later studies have shown that those who own the variant of the three genes are 80% less likely to suffer from dementia (Alzheimer's) than the average of the society.

Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute of Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, USA, claims many laboratories around the world are developing drugs that work just like the three genes above. He predicted that the first pills would be tested in three years.

Making drugs that are capable of producing gene-like effects is not the only way to prolong life. Scientists found that rapamycin - a soil-borne biochemical agent on Easter Island (in Chile) in the Pacific - is capable of slowing down the aging process. Experts of the Institute of Life Research and the phenomenon of aging Barshop (USA), rats eat rapamycin and found that their average life expectancy increased markedly.

Dr. Arlan Richardson, director of Barshop's Aging and Phenomenology Research Institute, says the rapamycin compound restricts the activity of mTOR - an enzyme that controls protein production and cellular metabolism. Many previous studies have demonstrated that the decrease in mTOR activity causes a significant increase in the life span of flies, barley and nematodes.